A poor first half produced little of note and left Saunders and his counterpart Darren Ferguson demanding more.

Tommy Lee and Ian Evatt are stunned as Cameron Stewart adds a third goal for Doncaster - Pic: James Williamson

And it was Rovers that stepped on the gas after the restart to condemn the Spireites to a third straight defeat.

Doncaster were undone by a counter-attacking Rochdale outfit at the weekend and Saunders appeared to set his team up in an attempt to follow suit.

However, Doncaster got stronger as the game went on and ran out well-deserved winners – thanks to a first goal of the season for Tyson, a fifth in five games from Williams, and a Stewart goal in stoppage time.

It was Chesterfield who settled the quicker but Rovers who registered the first attempt on goal. Williams fired over the bar after the hosts seized upon a casual pass from former Doncaster defender Sam Hird.

Doncaster's Nathan Tyson opens the scoring. Photo: ''Andrew Roe

Spireites’ best moment of a drab opening quarter came when Lee Novak broke the offside trap and intelligently pulled it back to Dan Gardner who drilled just wide of Thorsten Stuckmann’s left-hand post.

Doncaster were growing into the contest after a slow start and should probably have gone ahead from a rehearsed free kick routine that saw Conor Grant lay a square ball to Williams. The striker peeled off his man to good effect but lashed his attempt from inside the box high over the bar.

Cedric Evina, who continued his good recent form, went close just after the half hour when he cut in from the left but curled a right foot effort over, before an acrobatic attempt from Williams was gathered by Tommy Lee after a good pick-out from James Coppinger.

Chesterfield’s game plan looked like it was to counter quickly on Rovers - just like Rochdale did to good effect - and just before half time Jay O’Shea got in behind but, after refusing to shoot from close range, his lay back was struck narrowly wide by Novak.

Roles were initially reversed during a lively start to the second period as the visitors enjoyed good territory and possession and Rovers broke at speed.

After some good wing play from Felipe Mattioni, Williams was foiled superbly by the onrushing Lee. Seconds later Mattioni flashed a shot inches wide.

As the game continued in a much more open vein, and with both sides showing more attacking purpose, Tyson then brought a full length save from Lee with a curling effort before Evina smashed the rebound wide. Grant also saw two crosses deflected just wide as Rovers notably raised the tempo and gained the upper hand.

Their pressure paid off on the hour mark when Mattioni drew a handball from Daniel Jones in the area. Tyson saw his low penalty saved by Lee but reacted quickest to prod home the rebound.

Saunders instantly made a treble substitution and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake saw a good chance deflected wide and Ollie Banks drilled one just past the post as the Spireites sought a quick response.

But instead they quickly found themselves two behind as Williams made and scored a delightful goal on the break, combining brilliantly with Evina before calmly finding the corner of the net with a cool left-footed finish.

The in-form striker should have made it three late on but deflected Cameron Stewart’s cross inches wide, before Stewart robbed Ian Evatt in stoppage time and drilled past Lee to add some gloss to Rovers’ fourth win in five games.